Donacloney V Armagh 30th May 2009
Mixed fortunes for Armagh on glorious weekend
Armagh finally got their Ulster Bank Division One Section Two league campaign off to the best possible start on Saturday at Donacloney when they came away victorious by 7 wickets. Premier League pacesetters Lisburn proved an entirely different proposition on Sunday on the sun-drenched Mall as they romped to a ten wicket victory.
Armagh travelled to Donacloney’s picturesque Factory Ground starting their league campaign on the penultimate day in May; surely one of the latest starts to a season in living memory. Club captain CP Kulkarni came in for his first game of the season, eager to make an impact having waited over 5 weeks to get his first taste of action. Lloyd Hamilton and Stuart Lester were unavailable and Colin Russell injured so Philip Doyle and Reg Stinson came into the side. After winning the toss, Kulkarni decided to back his bowlers and put the home side in to bat, a brave decision considering the heat but one that showed great confidence in his side.
The decision though was vindicated in full as the opening bowling pair of Kulkarni and the senior Stinson ripped right through the home side taking four wickets a piece with clever and calculated use of swing and pace. Stinson removed opener Lyttle thanks to a great catch by Villiers at cover who leapt high to take the catch. Kulkarni had a classic dismissal of the left handed batsman Hanna by slanting the ball across him and taking the edge through to Gareth McCarter who held on easily. The evergreen Stinson then removed Warren and Marshall both clean bowled. Kulkarni was too quick for Hylands and Copeland, clean bowling one and having the former dismissed leg before wicket. The score at that point had Donacloney at 16-6 and really staring down the barrel with Armagh proving much too accurate to get away. Derby managed to smash Stinson for a boundary through mid-on but in trying to repeat the trick next ball missed it and was clean bowled, allowing Stinson to finish with an excellent spell of seven overs taking four wickets for only twenty-one runs.
Armagh got slightly careless at this stage, giving away more extras than they ought to have done in the face of determined lower order batsmen. One stroke too many brought Kulkarni his fourth wicket, Mark Stinson with the catch at mid-off. With Harry Doyle eventually keeping things tight at one end, David Bullick wrapped up the innings with two wickets; McClure and Stevenson the men who were clean bowled and giving the home team a total of 67 all out, a fine effort by the Armagh side.
The message to the Armagh top order was to take their time and seal a convincing victory but to their credit, Donacloney applied themselves well in the field and made things as difficult as they could. Matthew Steenson was first out for ten, being bowled by McClure before Villiers was out leg before wicket to Marshall for 15. Philip Doyle and Kulkarni were together at the crease at this point and nearly suffered a calamitous run out when both men were standing beside eachother but thankfully the fielders made a mess of the chance and Kulkarni survived, playing some lovely strokes as the target grew smaller. Doyle was growing in confidence too, stroking a couple of attractive boundaries before being bowled attempting another big hit to add to his score of 16. However, Bullick ensured there were no further mistakes to seal a seven wicket victory with Kulkarni sealing a great all-round display with the winning boundary being blazed through the covers.
Naturally, Kulkarni was delighted with his teams victory and modestly preferred to look at the rest of the side rather than his own impressive performance. “It was a fine effort” admitted the affable Indian, “we bowled well in good areas and made them made their mistakes, Reggie (Stinson) especially so before David (Bullick) finished the job. We held the catching chances that we had then scored the runs quickly to win the game. With good practice and more games, this team can surely be competitive. | 
